“So Linda was waving a pistol at your wife,” Hollander said. “Then what went on?”

“Granny said that Linda’d gone lunatic, screaming at everyone, including Earl for shootin’ Rolland. Called him all sorts of names. Earl started to cry, but that made Linda ever madder. My wife…she got real scared, ’cause Linda was saying some crazy things.”

“What kind of crazy things?” Decker asked.

“That she was gonna shoot everyone, then herself.” Pappy Darcy held back tears. “Earl didn’t know nothing, didn’t know what he was doin’. He thought Rolland hurt his brother, was gonna hurt Linda, too. So he thought he was saving her. And with my wife…you can see Granny used the shotgun in self-defense. Linda’d lost her head.”

“What about Carly?” Decker said.

“Oh Lord forgive us all!” Pappy Darcy began to cry. “Granny D said it was an accident.”

“You believe her?” Decker said.

“Yes, dear Jesus, I do.”

Decker waited a beat, then said quietly, “But wasn’t your wife angry at Carly for carrying on like she did?”

“It was an accident—”

“But your wife didn’t like Carla’s wild ways,” Decker pressed on. “And then Carla started demanding her share of the land—”

“It was an accident!” Pappy Darcy insisted. “Granny shot Linda in self-defense, and Carly accidentally got in the way!”

Decker said, “Must have been hard for Granny, a good Christian woman, to see Carla acting so bad….”

“It was an accident!” Pappy cried out. “Sweet Jesus, haven’t you ever had an accident in your life?”

Pappy Darcy’s cheeks were flushed, his hands were shaking. Decker backed off. He more than anyone knew what an accident felt like.

He waited a moment, then asked, “What happened with Luke? How’d his legs get blown off?”

“That…” Pappy Darcy’s knees buckled. He sank into a chair. “I did that. Luke was dead anyway. I figured maybe I could make it look like…spare Earl and my wife…I don’t know what I was thinkin’. I wasn’t right in my head by that time, neither.”

Hollander said, “You shot Luke?”

“After he was dead,” Pappy Darcy whispered.

Decker asked, “Then what happened, Mr. Darcy?”

“The rest of us…we all left together. I took all the wallets…mebbe the police would think it was a robbery gone bad. Granny grabbed Katie out of her crib—”

“Katie’s pajamas had blood all over them,” Decker said. “How’d it get there?”

Pappy looked down and mumbled, “She followed my wife into the kitchen while Granny was makin’ her bottle. Slipped on the floor. I took her out of there fast, I remember that. I didn’t even realize that her nightie had blood on it until we was in the car. But Granny…she forgot to pack Katie some clothes, so we was stuck.”